How would you weld this broken cast iron part?

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This is from some old piece of flat belt driven farm machinery-a linkage of some sort. I made a replacement on the mill out of mild steel, but would like to weld or braze the original. The middle break is recent and clean,the pin on the end is an old break. The section thickness is about 1/4"- 1/2" thick. The break on the end is  5/8" diameter. No experience with any cast iron welding or brazing, have a O/A rig, and AC-DC tig to use.            


Reply:I would use brazing and per heat. It works the best on old cast iron.Dave

Originally Posted by stoneaxe

This is from some old piece of flat belt driven farm machinery-a linkage of some sort. I made a replacement on the mill out of mild steel, but would like to weld or braze the original. The middle break is recent and clean,the pin on the end is an old break. The section thickness is about 1/4"- 1/2" thick. The break on the end is  5/8" diameter. No experience with any cast iron welding or brazing, have a O/A rig, and AC-DC tig to use.            


Reply:Instead of brazing with a bronze alloy, I might use a Nickel-silver alloy like All-State 11, which is thin flowing at the higher temperature (more like silver-soldering). First apply the correct flux (here All-State #1) to the surfaces (IIRC, as a thin water or EtOH suspension),fit tightly together, make a jig to hold the parts in that position, and heat with OA torch until alloy wicks into the crack, adding enough to cover all the internal break surface. Brazing, if done as above, will keep both the original contour and the surface texture and won't require any build-up on the surface to get the needed strength. I've used the process on tool steel, but not on any large cast iron parts.Here are pages from an old (1967) All-State catalog showing it. The same or similar alloy is also sold by other companies, but I don't recall which at the moment.

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Reply:My typical goto glue for cast is brazing.  You can stick weld the part with nickel rods, too. Do not use nomacast.  Not sure what you goal is,  just service vs restoration?  I have o/a cast iron rods,  I have never been successful using them.  I will have to try the All-state 11, looks interesting.  I keep bronze and safety-silv 45 around. Stock up when prices dip.  The all state stuff is $92/lb.
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Originally Posted by tapwelder

My typical goto glue for cast is brazing.  You can stick weld the part with nickel rods, too. Do not use nomacast.  Not sure what you goal is,  just service vs restoration?  I have o/a cast iron rods,  I have never been successful using them.  I will have to try the All-state 11, looks interesting.  I keep bronze and safety-silv 45 around. Stock up when prices dip.  The all state stuff is $92/lb.
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Originally Posted by Oldiron2

I'm thinking it might be an antique such as would be displayed at county fairs and such, hence making the part look as close to original as possible.
Reply:I have used a needle scaler to put a cast texture back into a repaired area, with excellent results.
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Originally Posted by Tool Junkie

I have used a needle scaler to put a cast texture back into a repaired area, with excellent results.
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Originally Posted by Oldiron2

I had thought of that, but don't own (or normally need) one. I once did look into the availability of electric ones, but the price was very high, more than I could justify, and the air versions seem too inefficient.Another method I considered was blasting with very large grit, but never got beyond the thinking stage.
Reply:Interesting thread. I used to be the king of brazing cast iron. Yet only 3 out of 4 attempts were strong enough to be useful. So I went with nickle 99 for years and increased the success to 90%. Then I had a long dry spell and rebuilders came out of the woodwork so I tried EZWELD tig rod for cast iron. I became a true believer when I had to rebuild a $50k machine hub. EZWELD has the same color as the base for the most part.Weld like a "WELDOR", not a wel-"DERR"

MillerDynasty700DX,Dynasty350DX4ea,Dynasty200DX,Li  ncolnSW200-2ea.,MillerMatic350P,MillerMatic200w/spoolgun,MKCobraMig260,Lincoln SP-170T,PlasmaCam/Hypertherm1250,HFProTig2ea,MigMax1ea.
Reply:How cheap is EZWELD and used with a torch. I mainly use brazing for all my cast iron repair but the idea of a close match to cast iron.Dave

Originally Posted by shovelon

Interesting thread. I used to be the king of brazing cast iron. Yet only 3 out of 4 attempts were strong enough to be useful. So I went with nickle 99 for years and increased the success to 90%. Then I had a long dry spell and rebuilders came out of the woodwork so I tried EZWELD tig rod for cast iron. I became a true believer when I had to rebuild a $50k machine hub. EZWELD has the same color as the base for the most part.
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Originally Posted by shovelon

Interesting thread. I used to be the king of brazing cast iron. Yet only 3 out of 4 attempts were strong enough to be useful. So I went with nickle 99 for years and increased the success to 90%. Then I had a long dry spell and rebuilders came out of the woodwork so I tried EZWELD tig rod for cast iron. I became a true believer when I had to rebuild a $50k machine hub. EZWELD has the same color as the base for the most part.
Reply:The All State 11 sounds promising, I like the idea of a silver braze with good wetting- they say it will wick into .001"-.003" space- that means the freshly broken pieces can be perfectly aligned with no exterior beveling or grinding.
Reply:Yikes...but for the purpose, price would probably be pretty good.

Dave J.Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~George Bernard Shaw~ Syncro 350Invertec v250-sThermal Arc 161 and 300MM210DialarcTried being normal once, didn't take....I think it was a Tuesday.
Reply:Nice price too. It looks like great rod now if price is closer to brazing rod would make great rod.Thank youDave

Originally Posted by MinnesotaDave

Yikes...but for the purpose, price would probably be pretty good.


Reply:You are buying  welding “wires” not rods.
Reply:Eutectic used to make a rod called XYRON? IIRC it was awesome on broken manifolds etc, it was an arc electrode and would run on a cheapie AC transformer machines.NRA LIFE MEMBERUNITWELD 175 AMP 3 IN1 DCMIDSTATES 300 AMP AC MACHINELET'S GO BRANDON!"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Reply:

Originally Posted by CAVEMANN

Eutectic used to make a rod called XYRON? IIRC it was awesome on broken manifolds etc, it was an arc electrode and would run on a cheapie AC transformer machines.
Reply:Did you get job done?You can see they few options 1)Brazing rod / brass low price 2) EZ weld high price but close match to cast iron color get if part can not be painted 3) Nickel cast iron rod in between 1 & 2. For looks and price4) cast iron rod very close match but harder to weld.Dave

Originally Posted by stoneaxe

This is from some old piece of flat belt driven farm machinery-a linkage of some sort. I made a replacement on the mill out of mild steel, but would like to weld or braze the original. The middle break is recent and clean,the pin on the end is an old break. The section thickness is about 1/4"- 1/2" thick. The break on the end is  5/8" diameter. No experience with any cast iron welding or brazing, have a O/A rig, and AC-DC tig to use.            


Reply:

Originally Posted by Oldiron2

Scanning as a pdf makes files too large to post here.
Reply:A US artsy crafts supplier now has the trademark 'Xyron' so searching on that, goes nowhere.Eutectic is still around. Their 'About Us' says they were founded in India, and now are a subsidiary of a US conglomerate.Here's their Xyron listing.https://www.ewacalloys.com/ewac/main...ar_cat=3&id=15But then on that site's 'Global Sales' page:"We export to Africa, Middle East and South East Asian countries."For the US, see:Castolin Eutectic - Eutectic Corporation USA - near Milwaukee.But they seem to market to heavy industry, not retail.Searching Ebay on 'Eutectic' or 'Castolin' located several rods and welding powders.* Amico MIG-130A Flux, Dual Voltage. Truly portable!* HF MIG-180 with all the mods. Heavy.* Grizzly H8153 Stick/Tig 130/160.* Wards PowrKraft AC-230. Stick & carbon arc.
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Originally Posted by shortfuse

Most scanners will let you save the pic as a "jpg" which you can then resize for posting.
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Originally Posted by Oldiron2

True, but then I would need to process each page separately (and I would also scan some others, including the inside cover) which I didn't have the time or energy to do lately and which is more trouble than photographing. Was up 'till 3, as it was. So far, nobody has requested seeing the information.
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Originally Posted by California

Some of that old product literature may be available on Ebay. If not at this moment, then set up a search that will send you an email when something gets listed.My search through Ebay this morning hit on some Eutectic product literature.
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Originally Posted by MinnesotaDave

Yikes...but for the purpose, price would probably be pretty good.

Good to know.I have had to do per heat for antiques restoration.That could be good thing no per heat need and you can charge for rod to cover the cost.  Dave

Originally Posted by shovelon

Yep, pricey, but this filler does not require preheat or special post weld cooling. There are a lot of antiques restoration firms in Los Angeles that can't find replacements to the original. I make my money and run.
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Originally Posted by Oldiron2

There were actually four different versions of XYRON. I could shoot pictures of their pages from a 1963 Eutectic catalog and post them, if anyone is interested. Scanning as a pdf makes files too large to post here.